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Could 2014 Be the Year For a President Wiranto?
Ezra Sihite | December 23, 2011

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JohnnyCool
8:10pm Jan 4, 2012

General Wiranto...aka the "singing general". I listened to one of his albums in 2000 - it was, hmmm, "hopeless" and I knew instantly it wouldn't sell in Tim-tim (if anywhere).

Now, ex-general SBY "writes" songs. Maybe they could team up and have a hit together, but I doubt it. Just wondering if the current Golkar chairman can "sing", too.

What a trio that would be, and hope I never get to hear it.


jusdogin
4:00pm Dec 23, 2011

marko

dunno much about the dude but my dad says he is off to oz it he gets in


marko1
3:01pm Dec 23, 2011

If they are not a Religious fanatic and have no hesitation to deal with the likes of FPI or FBR then they get my vote.

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The lack of a clear favorite in the 2014 presidential election leaves the door open for retired general Wiranto to make another run for office, an analyst has suggested.

Andrinof Chaniago, a political analyst from the University of Indonesia, said on Thursday that Wiranto had just as good a chance as any other potential candidate at this point.

“So far there are no standout candidates,” he said.

Wiranto, a former political affairs minister under President Abdurrahman Wahid, made an unsuccessful run for president in 2004 and in 2009 was Jusuf Kalla’s running mate in their failed bid.

The candidates who have already announced their intention to run in 2014 will do well to pick a popular running mate soon and begin courting the support of community groups, Andrinof said.

While Wiranto is a viable candidate and popular among grassroots voters, the analyst said, he is not helped by his political party, the relatively little-known People’s Conscience Party (Hanura).

A winning strategy might be for Hanura to center its own general elections campaign on its leader, much like the Democratic Party did with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in 2009, Andrinof said.

“Hanura needs to systematically build up Wiranto’s brand if he is to become a real contender,” he said.

And with two years to go before the elections, he said, there is time for the party to do this, and to raise its own profile nationally.

“Their platform has to be clear and the substance of their rhetoric has to improve because this whole time they’ve been seen as not all that substantial,” Andrinof said.

Speaking at a party meeting on Wednesday, Wiranto said he was “always ready” to take up the mantle as Hanura’s presidential candidate for 2014.

Wiranto is a polarizing figure because of allegations of human rights violations by the military in the days surrounding the fall of Suharto in 1998.

Rights activists have also held him responsible for the wave of violence that swept East Timor in 1999 following the independence referendum there. Wiranto was the military chief during both incidents.